Television actor, born in Westminster, Canada. Coming from Canada to study at Stanford University, he began as a stage actor, appearing in regional theatre before moving into television dramas and films. He starred as the burly detective in the Perry Mason (195766) and Ironside (196775) series, winning two Emmys. He went on to appear in several TV mini-series and in extended versions of Perry Mason.
Raymond William Stacey Burr (May 21, 1917 – September 12, 1993) was an actor, most known for his roles in the television dramas Perry Mason and Ironside.
Life and acting career
He was born in New Westminster, British Columbia, Canada to William Johnston Burr (a descendant of Irish immigrants) and Minerva Smith (who was of Scottish and English descent). A dual citizen of Canada and the United States, Burr served in the U.S. Navy in World War II and was wounded at the Battle of Okinawa. Burr broke into films in 1946 and made 90 in the next decade. Burr usually played menacing villains on the screen, although in 1956 he played the heroic reporter Steve Martin in Godzilla, King of the Monsters, the American re-edited version of the Japanese film Gojira.
With the international success of Godzilla, and shortly after starring on the radio drama Fort Laramie, Burr was chosen to star in 1957 in Perry Mason where he played Erle Stanley Gardner's clever defense attorney who always defended the innocent and only lost one case ("The Case of the Deadly Verdict," 10/17/1963; In 1967, Burr started another long running television series Ironside (known as A Man Called Ironside in the UK) in which he played a police chief who used a wheelchair for mobility. Subsequent to this, Burr had a couple of other short-lived series such as Kingston: Confidential but was unable to repeat his earlier hits. Burr also had a supporting role in Dennis Hopper's controversial film Out of the Blue (1980) and spoofed his Perry Mason image in Airplane II: The Sequel (1982). In 1985, Burr made a comeback as Perry Mason and made a series of 26 two-hour movies that were enormous ratings blockbusters, the last being completed only a few weeks prior to his death.
Showing charity
In contrast to the "bad guys" and hard, unbending heroes he often played, Raymond Burr was in real life a generous man who gave enormous sums of money (including his salaries from the Perry Mason movies) to charity.
Relationships
In his younger years, Burr, who was predominantly homosexual, was reportedly a significant other in Natalie Wood’s life.
Burr's official biography stated that he had been previously married, but both his wives and one child had died.
Robert Hofler in his 2005 book The Man Who Invented Rock Hudson: The Pretty Boys and Dirty Deals of Henry Willson, alleged that Burr and Rock Hudson hosted gay parties at a rented home in Palm Springs, California.
Raymond Burr lived with his partner, former actor Robert Benevides, for 35 years until Burr's death. At the time of Burr's death, Sonoma residents said they were well acquainted with Burr and Benevides, who operated their own vineyard there, and regarded them as any other married couple.
Fiji
Burr bought the island of Naitauba in Fiji for a reported $150,000 in 1965.
The Raymond Burr Performing Arts Centre
The Raymond Burr Performing Arts Centre in New Westminster, British Columbia opened in October 2000 near a city block bearing the family name of Burr. Since the theatre began producing plays, it has been the custom always to have a picture of Raymond Burr included somewhere on each set, and the first toast on the opening night of every production is always dedicated to his memory.
Raymond Burr has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6656 Hollywood Blvd. Burr is interred in the Fraser Cemetery, New Westminster, British Columbia, Canada.
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